Frank Hecker

Campaign signs 2014: Howard County Executive

4 minute read

In the battle for Howard County Executive, whose sign reigns supreme?

Today is primary day, and the day I cover the last of the local
campaign signs, this time for Howard County Executive candidates Allan
Kittleman and Courtney Watson (both of whom happen to be unopposed in
the primaries).

Here are the signs, in alphabetical order by candidate, along with my
comments, according to the
criteria I’ve
previously discussed.

I’ve previously written
about the problems inherent in using all four colors of the Maryland
flag in a single sign. This sign handles those problems as well as
they can be handled, mainly by avoiding the red text on yellow
background found in signs from Trent Kittleman, Frank Mirabile, and
others. Instead this sign carefully restricts itself to the exact
color juxtapositions found the Maryland flag: black with yellow, and
red with white. More specifically, it restricts itself to what I think
are the best color combinations: black text on a yellow background and
white text on a red background.

Some other things to note about this sign: The typeface is clean and
readable; it’s bold enough to stand out but light enough to allow
adequate space between the letters. Using both upper and lower case in
“Kittleman” means that the text isn’t quite as wide as it would be if
it were in all upper case, and thus it can fit better on the
sign. (“Kittleman” has nine letters, just like “Grabowski” and
“Markovitz”; compare this sign to the Grabowski and Markovitz signs I
discussed in
my previous post.)
The red banner-like design element in the upper right corner is
well-done; note that on the left side of the element the yellow
background seems to form an arrowhead pointing to the “Proven
Independent Leader” slogan. The slogan itself points diagonally upward
to the right to make the sign more dynamic (the same technique used on
the Dario Broccolino sign). Finally, note that the horizontal line
separating “Kittleman” from “Howard County Executive” is not just red
on yellow (a poor combination) but is both red and white in order to
maintain the preferred color juxtapositions I mentioned above.

The one thing that bothered me about this sign is that the “Howard
County Executive” seems a bit thin. When I was walking around the
neighborhood I had some trouble making that text out when viewing the
sign from a distance.

The design of the large version of the Allan Kittleman sign is the
same as that of the smaller sign, except that “Howard County
Executive” is now one line rather than two, is in a slightly bolder
typeface, and (at least to my eyes) is more readable.

Like Courtney Watson’s 2010 sign,
this sign uses white text on a blue background to good effect: The
text is very readable (especially “County Executive”), and there’s a
good visual progression from oblique serif type and all caps in
“COURTNEY” to the bold san serif typeface of “WATSON” to the sans
serif mixed case of “County Executive”.

The one potentially problematic part of this sign is the design
element in the upper left corner. Typical non-text elements in signs
are either totally non-representational (e.g., lines or borders) or
are common symbols that are immediately recognizable (e.g., stars,
apples, flag-derived banners). This element is clearly intended to
represent something, but it’s not immediately clear what that
something is. My personal interpretation is that it’s symbolic of
Howard County’s rural heritage: (yellow) sun above (white) road above
(green) field; however I’m not sure the average person would see it
the same way as I do. Nevertheless the colors are very nice and
brighten up what would otherwise be a plain and unadorned sign. (Note
also that subtle green line that separates “WATSON” and “County
Executive” and echoes the green in the upper left conner.)

Now for the tough part: Which sign to vote for? This contest is
certainly not as lopsided as we saw four years ago with Trent
Kittleman’s sign
vs.
Ken Ulman’s sign;
these signs are much more closely matched. Both sign designs are
professional and effective but neither is perfect, for reasons
explained above. On Kittleman’s side I think this the first
black/yellow/red/white sign design I actually find attractive; on
Watson’s side I really like the sign but consider it just a step down
from the 2010 sign. In the end I’m going to take the coward’s way out
and call this a toss-up.

This concludes my look at the campaign signs for Howard County local
races in 2014. In my
next post
I’ll wrap things up and name some overall winners in various
categories, including my choice for the best Howard County campaign
sign of 2014.